Netflix is adding to the ensemble for its adaptation of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden.
The limited series starring and executive produced by Florence Pugh has begun production in New Zealand. Joining the cast are Tracy Letts, Martha Plimpton, Ciaran Hinds, Joseph Zada and Joe Anders, who will appear alongside Pugh and the previously cast Christopher Abbott, Mike Faist and Hoon Lee.
Netflix formally greenlit the seven-episode drama in September, having acquired the rights in a bidding war back in 2022. Zoe Kazan — the granddaughter of Elia Kazan, who directed a 1955 feature film based on the novel — and Jeb Stuart (Die Hard, Vikings: Valhalla) are co-showrunners, with Kazan adapting Steinbeck’s book.
East of Eden tells the intertwined stories of two families in California’s Salinas Valley, the Trasks and the Hamiltons. Netflix says the series will “explore the multigenerational saga of the Trask family, focusing new attention on its indelible antihero, Cathy Ames (Pugh).”
Letts (Little Women, Winning Time) will play Cyrus Trask, the father of Adam (Abbott) and Charles (Faist). Plimpton (The Regime, Raising Hope) plays Faye, the owner of a brothel in Salinas. Hinds (Game of Thrones) plays Samuel Hamilton, patriarch of the Hamilton family. Zada (We Were Liars) and Anders (1917) play Adam’s sons, Cal and Aron Trask.
Fifth Season and Anonymous Content are producing East of Eden. Pugh, Kazan and Stuart executive produce with directors Garth Davis and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Antoine Douiahy and Zack Hayden.